A Lesson on Life and Death from a Community of Agencies Who Witness it too Many Times

Cpl. C.J. Myers of the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department shared the story of one his own high school friends, who through the decision to drink and drive, hit and killed another of his high school friends.

The High School Prom is an event that most of us have fond memories of. But it only takes one bad decision to turn that fond memory into a lifetime of regret. This was the message that a community of Emergency Services gave of their time to help the Junior and Senior Classes of Calhoun High School understand. Mulitple agencies from around the county and State, with the help of Westfall’s Wrecker Service and students actors performed a mock disaster, involving a car load of teens making bad decisions and one woman who would never make it home.

Shelly Stehman, EMT Student prepares to play the role of the corpse.

Julier Sears, OES Director checking on the “corpse” condition, who felt very much alive in the heat of the sun on a hot car hood.

The scene was staged and all of the characters were in their place as multiple ambulances, rescue and police rolled onto scene in front of the students. A helicopter had just landed on the adjacent practice field, and stood by to take critical survivors from the scene. But in the midst of it all beginning, reality hit, and the Helicopter cerw and the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department were dispatched to an emergency flight need at Minnie Hamilton Health System.

Lucas Morford prepared to leave the scene to set up a landing zone for Minnie Hamilton until he was told to stand down, the hospital had covered it themselves. All of this is a very real scenerio in a community with a limited amount of volunteers.

As teens could be heard screaming from the mutilated vehicle emergency crews rushed in on the scene to assess the injuries and to calm panicking youth. Cpl. Myers climbed into the vehicle with the teens, shielding them from glass and debris as the Fire Department volunteers cut the vehicle with the Jaws of Life.

NRP Jonathan Holcomb told the onlooking teens that he’d witnessed Deputy Myers doing the very thing he was pretending to do in real life. Climbing into a destroyed vehicles to protect and calm the occupents wasn’t part of their job description, but even as a DNR officer, he’d been called to these type scenes as well.

The impact of this mock accident had youth penned in a vehicle due to the damage incurred in the accident. An all too familiar issue on many of the accident scenes the volunteer fire fighters have been on. The accident isn’t always what totals a vehicle. Emergency services have to use every means possible to protect the occupants of the car, and help EMS to remove the patient with as little movement to victims as possible.

Patients were extracted one by one, for a total of four, with one fatality in the other vehicle. This is what all of the volunteers who came to the school on Thursday afternoon, hope to avoid on Saturday night as Calhoun County High School hosts Prom 2022. They hope that these images remain in the minds of those who attend prom, causing them to make wise decisions and stay safe.

Juniors standing before NRP Jonathan Holcomb and Cpl. CJ Myers as they describe the scene and r answer questions.

Seniors setting on the stairs of the Football Stadium Booth watching the disaster play out.

Calhoun 911 Board Members Ron Blankenship and Paul Hagemann attended the event.

Health Net came to help with the mock event but were called away early into it.

A chilling image of what happens to a fond memory when one person’s decision to drink and drive changes the fabric of families and friends for a life time.

Orchestrating a mock disaster is no easy feat. Multiple agencies are involved and fall into place with no rehearsal, just prior experience in real life allows them to play the role. Those who particpated were: